NewSorry Trump, iPhones should still be made in China
In reality, an American iPhone is likely just one more empty campaign promise. And that’s for the best.
Few people took Donald Trump seriously when he said in March that he’d “get Apple to start making their computers and their iPhones on our land, not in China.”
But his election appears to have caused a change of heart. Apple has reportedly asked the two Asian companies that assemble the bulk of its iPhones to assess whether they can bring the work to the U.S. One of them, Foxconn, has agreed to look into the matter.
Trump’s supporters have embraced this news as a sign of his power to persuade wayward corporations to make America great again. But as Apple and its manufacturing partners know, and as President Trump will soon find out, it’ll never happen.
The U.S. lacks the workforce and supply chains necessary for Apple to move its iPhone operation back home. And more to the point, Americans shouldn’t want it to.
Although Apple’s original supply chain included a suburban American garage, Asia quickly became central to the company’s growth.
In 1981, it opened a facility in Singapore to manufacture logic boards and other components. It was a no-brainer, according to a manager who ran the facility: “We find that no country can provide the combination of infrastructure, technical ability, supporting industries, governmental efficiency, support and incentives that Singapore offers.”